Fleet Encounter

After returning to his unit, Ron apologized to Jackson and the others, and then began working with his men to procure warhorses.

At first, many soldiers didn't quite understand, since warhorses were directly related to the combat effectiveness of the Cavalry. If you took away the Cavalry's warhorses, the Cavalry would become infantry.

Fortunately, Ron and his officers were highly respected in the regiment, and Victor's promise of commendation made the soldiers relatively satisfied.

After all, a promotion in merit level means that the merit that could originally be exchanged for 5 acres of land can be directly exchanged for 10 acres of land, which is indeed more valuable to many soldiers.

After calming the troops down, Ron led his Heavy Cavalry and warhorses to James's regimental camp.

After receiving the report, James came out to greet him personally. Looking at Ron, who was riding on horseback and acting arrogantly, James's heart skipped a beat. "Even if Ron doesn't come to interrogate me, he'll definitely try to extort money from me."

However, James still had a smile on his face, after all, he was indeed the one who benefited more from this situation.

"Regimental Commander Ron, why did you personally come to deliver the troops and horses? It would have been better to have Jackson come instead. You must have a lot to do since you just got back to the unit!"

"I mainly came to see you. The warhorses are nothing to me; we obey the Viscount's command. However, I need to give you a proper explanation about my Heavy Cavalry detachment."

As he spoke, Ron dismounted his horse, walked up to James, and looked down at him.

James watched as Ron moved right up to him. Looking up at Ron's large face, James felt a sense of foreboding for some reason. He quickly took a step back and raised his hand in an inviting gesture.

"Regimental Commander Ron, let's talk in my tent. Let my deputy Regimental Commander handle the troops and horses; we've already arranged barracks."

Ron nodded, James led the way, with Ron following him into the camp.

After James led Ron into his tent, he asked Ron to sit down and then poured two glasses of water for both of Ron.

Ron brought over a glass of water, took a sip, and frowned. "I've come all this way, and you're offering me this?"

As one of only two high-ranking officers in the Golden Sunflower Territory who were known for their love of fine wine, and given their good relationship, James had often secretly drunk wine behind Victor's back. Ron didn't believe James didn't have a stash of it.

When James heard Ron say that, he knew he was about to bleed.

With a pang of regret, he opened a cabinet and took out two bottles of wine. These were his supplies from when he left the territory, but compared to the good wine Victor had given him, James still wanted to give these to Ron to calm him down.

James patted the bottle and smiled at Ron, "This is my personal collection. This is all the good stuff I have left. You can take it, but drink it sparingly and don't let Victor find out."

Ron snatched the bottle from James's hand. "You talk too much. You're dawdling over two bottles of wine. I thought they were some kind of fine wine!"

James was furious, but he didn't intend to stoop to Ron's level. The guy was definitely angry, and there was no need to provoke him further.

Thus, Ron and James had a long and amicable discussion about the transfer of command of the troops. James was forced to make several humiliating promises to the unit before Ron let him go.

On the other side, the southward fleet that left Rotten Tree Beach, under the command of Sodoma, split into two groups, one in front and one behind. The group in front consisted of some old ships, numbering about 20, which were directly commanded by Sodoma. The group behind consisted of new and large ships, numbering nearly 50, which were commanded by Captain Jack and Blox.

Blox originally wanted to command the vanguard decoy fleet, but Sodoma thought he was unsuitable because he was unfamiliar with the hydrographic information of the reef area and also unfamiliar with the old ships in the decoy fleet.

Most of the ships in the decoy fleet were old ships that Sodoma had brought with him from Great Oak Territory. Sodoma was more familiar with the performance of these ships, so he used this as a reason to argue and win the command of the decoy fleet.

Meanwhile, most of the sailors and captains of the decoy fleet were subordinates that Sodoma brought with him, and he needed this to better complete the decoy mission.

Although Sodoma employed the decoy plan, it did not mean he truly intended to abandon the ships. He hoped to use his nautical skills and his elite sailors to save them while executing the decoy plan.

Shortly after Sodoma and his fleet arrived at the designated area, they indeed spotted several reconnaissance ships belonging to the Coalition of Nobles.

Sodoma was certainly not going to hold back, and led his fleet to attack the scout ships directly. Except for one that escaped, the others were sunk by Sodoma.

As for the ship that escaped, it was actually a messenger sent out by Sodoma.

Soon, the Coastal Defense Fleet under the command of Viscount Sonanda encountered the patrol ship. In particular, several commanders of the noble fleet, seeing that their patrol ships had suffered heavy losses and discovering the traces of the fleet of the Northern Frontier Allied Army, immediately joined forces to ask Viscount Sonanda to send troops together.

Sonanda knew that this was his son's doing, and he readily agreed to the request of several noble fleet commanders, turning his fleet around and sailing towards the area where the incident occurred.

Sodoma had already adjusted the fleet's course and dispatched fast ships to track the patrol vessel, waiting only to find the Coastal Defense Fleet.

However, the process was not smooth. Due to the temperature difference in early spring, the sea surface often experienced heavy fog in the morning and evening, and Sodoma and his crew encountered the most severe fog during this period.

Looking at the wall of fog surrounding the ship, Sodoma was very anxious, because the fog had basically cut off communication between the ships, and they could only find out the location of other friendly ships by having the sailors shout to each other.

However, Sodoma also knew that this situation would have the same impact on both sides, and it was estimated that the Coastal Defense Fleet led by Viscount Sonanda on the other side would also have difficulty finding their whereabouts.

Indeed, the situation was the same for the Coastal Defense Fleet. Viscount Sonanda frowned upon seeing the weather. He had just led his fleet close to the area where the incident occurred when a thick fog rose up, enveloping the entire fleet. Under such conditions, it would be difficult to even navigate normally, let alone conduct combat operations.

Given the sheer size of his fleet, which made collisions a real possibility, Viscount Sonanda simply ordered all ships to anchor immediately.

Now both sides can only wait for the Sun to rise, the temperature to rise, and the fog to dissipate before they can continue sailing.

But at this moment, neither of them knew that the Coastal Defense Fleet and the decoy fleet were already very close, and neither side's fleet had detected the other's presence.

So, more than two hours later, as the sun rose high in the sky and the fog slowly dissipated, Sodoma, who was observing from the deck, suddenly noticed the shadowy figures of ships less than two kilometers away.

"Raise the sails and set sail!"

Sodoma hurriedly gave the order. He hadn't expected the enemy to be so close. If they were sailing normally, it would only take a few minutes to get close.

Fortunately, all the ships in the decoy fleet had already adjusted their bow orientation in advance, and with the sails raised, they began to sail in the predetermined direction.

On the other side, the Coastal Defense Fleet also spotted the decoy fleet. At first, many people didn't realize it and thought it was a friendly force that had drifted out of the fleet due to the ocean current. After all, the ships on both sides were basically the same type and it was difficult to distinguish them clearly in the thin fog.

Many crew members of the Coastal Defense Fleet even mocked how poorly these friendly forces were, drifting so far from their main camp.

But when Sodoma ordered the fleet to turn back, the Coastal Defense Fleet realized something was wrong. By then, the fog had mostly cleared, and they could see the emblems on the sails, which were the very enemy fleet they were looking for.

So before Viscount Sonanda could give the order, the ships of the noble fleet took the lead and gave chase. They could see very clearly that the enemy only had about twenty ships.

Excluding the Great Oak Fleet led by Viscount Sonanda, their Coalition of Nobles alone had no fewer than 60 ships, all of similar size and number. With a three-fold numerical advantage, how could they possibly lose? Catching up would be a meritorious achievement.

Finally, under Sonanda's watchful eye, these noble fleets took the lead and caught up, gradually breaking away from the Great Oak Fleet.

"You've really been blinded by greed! It seems to be going even more smoothly than I imagined. Sodoma, your plan has succeeded."